Fans who line up a couple of hours before the gates open for the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series can sleep in this year.

Every seat in the stadium can be reserved for the entire tournament, starting at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

“Dana Palmer and her family have been standing in line in the north stands every morning when I pull in two hours before game time,” said Bruce Hill, the tournament vice-chairman. “She always says, ‘Why don’t you just sell me my seats?’ Now, here’s the opportunity where she can buy her seats in her area and know that they’re there.”

With the stadium renovation, the tournament organizers decided to allow fans to reserve their favorite seats this year for the first time in the history of the tournament.

They will pay a premium, but prices are in line with other NJCAA national tournaments and the Grand Junction Rockies season ticket prices, said Jamie Hamilton, the tournament chairman.

Reserved tournament passes, good for all 19 games, are $145 for the new first-base seats, $75 for all others.

“It is a national tournament, and you take $145 and divide it by 19 games, it’s $7.63,” Hamilton said. “The Rockies have 38 games at $299, so that’s $7.86. We tried to be consistent with that.

“Plus, we are talking about a national tournament, and all the dollars go back into the stadium.”

Reserved seats in the main grandstands, outfield bleachers or right-field bleachers are $75, or $3.95 per game.

General admission tournament passes go on sale April 1 at outlets throughout town and are still $35 for adults, $25 for students (6-21) and senior citizens (65-over).

All reserved seats will be sold through Monumental Events, and fans have three ways to buy those seats — online, over the phone or in person.

Starting at 7 a.m. Wednesday, fans can log on at http://www.MonumentalEvents.com, and a program will show them an overall view of the stadium. Every section and row is lettered and every seat will be numbered. Then fans just click on the seat or seats they want to buy.

“If it’s available, it will be green, if it’s taken it will be in red or another color,” Landon Balding of Monumental Events said.

“It will automatically select the best seats available first, but if you want a different seat, you deselect all and then go select the seat you want.”

Fans who buy online have three options to get their tickets. They can print their own tickets, which will be much like an airline “E-ticket,” on 8.5x11 paper that they will take to the gate.

If they prefer actual tickets, they can print a voucher for their purchase and opt to have a packet of tickets, one for each game, waiting for them at the “Will Call” window at the stadium or mailed to them.

Ticket packets will be mailed after April 1.

Fans without computer access can call Balding’s office at 877-434-8497 to purchase tickets and pay by phone, or if they want to order and pay in person, his office at 2470 Patterson Road, Unit 1B, opens at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Reserved tournament tickets are available Wednesday through May 10. On May 11, single-game reserved seats will go on sale through Monumental Events.

Single-game reserved tickets are $12 for day games, $15 for night games.

Reserved seats will be sold at the gate during the tournament.

Hamilton isn’t sure how the response for reserved seats will be, but he’s already gotten several calls from people wanting that option, and calls from people upset about the policy.

“I got a call from people who for 42 years have sat in that same seat,” he said. “We can help you, but it’s 145 bucks. Some say, OK, we want to be there. Some say, sorry, we can’t do that.

“The uniqueness is that no other organization does this. It’s $38 a ticket at Omaha (for the NCAA College World Series) for each game and they all are reserved, and they’re packed.

“We’re trying to take care of the range of fans that we have.”

The time had come to offer reserved seats, which will eliminate taping blankets to the bleachers to save seats.

“You don’t want to lose the fans, and that’s why the (general admission) is still there,” Hill said. “I don’t know that we’ll ever go all reserved; it just doesn’t feel right for this tournament.”

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By Randall Allen - Tuesday, February 14, 2012

I can tell you that if JUCO ever goes to all reserved seating, some fans, like myself, may not be able to afford to go to the games at all. The general admission passes are the right price for me. One of the charms of JUCO was that it was an event that EVERYONE could afford and enjoy for an entire week. Now, it may turn into an event that squeezes out those who don’t have the money for a reserved seat and attendance may actually decrease. My other fear is that—by buying a general admission pass—I’m going to get stuck in the seats behind the outfield fence where the view simply isn’t as good as it is along the foul lines.